Università degli Studi di Parma

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Second cycle degree

INGEGNERIA CIVILE

COD. 5011
WEBSITE
A.Y. 2015/2016
CLASS:
LM-23 - Classe delle lauree magistrali in Ingegneria civile
Years of study: 2
Credits (CFU): 120
Mode of study: full-time
FREE-ACCESS COURSE

15 places available for Non-EU citizens
including 2 places reserved to Chinese citizens
Enrolment: from July 22nd to October 22nd

COURSE STRUCTURE DIAGRAM WITH CREDITS

PERCORSO COMUNE (curriculum)

Year of study: 1

Year of study: 2

Profile of the programme

The second cycle degree course in Civil Engineering specifically aims at training professionals specialized in the fields of design, construction, maintenance and management of civil structures and infrastructures serving the city and its territory. To this end, it provides in-depth training in the central, traditional disciplines of Civil Engineering.
Admission to graduates in category L-7 is without credit deficits; admission from other three-year degrees requires a set number of credits in 4 subject groups (for details, see course regulations). The two-year course, along with its objectives, pursues two separate and complementary goals: consolidating the students’ knowledge and providing a sufficiently wide and in-depth vision of civil engineering sectors through solid general training, while focusing specialization on a specific field to be chosen by the student. The course enhances the connection between a technical-scientific background and managerial-economic aspects, while encouraging an engineering approach to problem-solving; in addition, it fosters the so-called cross-functional skills, especially including the ability to make independent choices but also to relate to others and collaborate in a working team. Given the interdisciplinary training and the wide range of topics a civil engineer has to deal with, in the first year the programme is of a general type, with activities covering all the main core subjects. In the 2nd year the student is guided towards a specific field of civil engineering: construction, hydraulic, infrastructural and structural. Students are then given a wide range of subjects within which they can extend their knowledge base. 6 university credits are given to laboratory work or internships with firms and companies in order to promote contact with the world of work.
The thesis, accounting for a set number of credits, is to be seen as the opportunity for an individual overview of the academic contents of the course, and should show the student’s ability to explore topics in further depth and work independently.
The average number of course enrolments in the last three-years was just under 80, with a negligible dropout rate. The average length of studies was close to three years; 90% of graduates were satisfied with the course (2012 data). According to Alma Laurea (data source), the rate of graduates employed within a year, which was over 85% until the first years of the current economic crisis, was then affected by the recession, dropping to 64% in 2013 (the last year for which data is available; the percentage is in line with the national rate).
The main career opportunities for Second Cycle graduates are the same as for First Cycle three-year graduates, but the higher level of expertise, specialization, and autonomy allows them to tackle design projects of considerable scope and complexity (for example, the design of works in seismic areas) that are not within the scope of First Cycle three-year graduates; other specific opportunities must then be added to these ones. The more obvious employment opportunities are as freelance professionals; in professional studios and in engineering design companies specialising in the construction, structural, geotechnics, hydraulic and infrastructural sectors; with companies involved in the construction and maintenance of civil works, civil systems and infrastructures, soil conservation works and systems; in professional studios and firms designing civil works, systems and infrastructures; in public bodies in charge of the design, planning, management and monitoring of urban and territorial systems; in firms, consortiums and agencies managing and monitoring technological networks, urban systems, and soil conservation systems; and in the technical departments of public and private organizations (municipal, provincial, etc.) The professional areas concerned are those of advanced structure and infrastructure design, with innovative or complex characteristics in regard both to modelling and computing methods and to the materials used; management and optimization of complex infrastructure systems (technological networks, transport networks, hydraulic infrastructure) at the service of the territory or the city; building design, including environment-friendly work; and specialized professional consulting.

Admission requirements

Admission to the Second Cycle Degree Course in Civil Engineering requires possession of a three-year/ first cycle degree or another valid qualification obtained abroad and recognised as equivalent. The Second Cycle Degree Course in Civil Engineering is the natural continuation of the First Cycle Degree Course of Class L-7. The Course thus requires students to have solid grounding in Mathematics and Physics (especially in Mathematical Analysis and Rational Mechanics) and in the fundamental subjects of Civil Engineering, namely hydraulics and hydraulic constructions, road infrastructures, topography, geotechnics, construction science and techniques.
Prior to enrolment, students are assessed on the suitability of their personal preparation and the necessary requirements according to the following modality:

1. Academic requirements
Entry to the course is subject to applicants possessing the academic requirements, and sufficient personal competence. Access to enrolment is direct if the student holds a degree in Civil Engineering belonging to Class L-7 (D.M. 270/04) or in Class 8 (D.M. 509/99).
Graduates from other three-year degree courses must acquire the necessary requirements to gain admission to the course, that is they must possess a set number of University credits in the following scientific-disciplinary sectors:
• At least 30 credits in the following sectors:
• INF/01 Computer Science
• ING-INF/05 Information elaboration systems
• MAT/03 Geometry
• MAT/05 Mathematical analysis
• MAT/06 Mathematical statistics and probability
• MAT/07 Mathematical Physics
• MAT/08 Calculus
• MAT/09 Ricerca operativa
• SECS-S/02 Statistics for experimental and technological research
• CHIM/03 General and inorganic Chemisty
• CHIM/07 Chemical principles of technologies
• FIS/01 Experimental Physics
• At least 27 credits in the following sectors:
• ICAR/01 Hydraulics
• ICAR/02 Hydraulic and maritime constructions and hydrology
• ICAR/04 Roads, railways and airports
• ICAR/05 Transportation
• ICAR/06 Topography and cartography
• ICAR/07 Geotechnics
• At least 12 credits in the following sectors:
• ICAR/08 Building science
• ICAR/09 Building techniques
• At least 12 credits in the following sectors:
• ICAR/10 Technical architecture
• ICAR/11 Construction industry
• ICAR/17 Drawing

Students holding a foreign degree will be assessed on their requirements by taking into account equivalent subjects between their prior career and the scientific-disciplinary sectors of Course Class L-7. Any academic integrations in terms of university credits will be defined by a designated commission and must be acquired prior to assessment of individual competence.
Students needing to acquire academic integrations can attend single courses in their specific Degree Course, according to the University Regulations.

2. Assessment of suitability of personal preparation
The student’s personal preparation is considered as suitable if:
a) the student has obtained a suitable degree to access the course with a final grade of 88/110 or higher;
b) the student holds an official certification attesting his/her knowledge of English at level A or passed the English language proficiency test (“idoneità”) during the three-year degree;
c) the student has acquired the academic integrations through single courses and has obtained an average weighted grade of no less than 24/30.
In case the conditions a) and/or c) are missing, students will be individually assessed by a commission nominated by the Head of the Department and the Course Council on the main subjects regarding Civil Engineering (further described).
In case the condition b) is missing, students will be individually assessed on their personal preparation in English.
The tests generally take place in the Meeting Room of the Department of Civil, Environmental, Land Management Engineering and Architecture; dates and hours will be indicated on the Study Manifesto, in the section "DATE DI INTERESSE DEGLI STUDENTI” (important dates for students). Students have to apply for the test at the “Servizio Specialistico per la Didattica” (specific service for studying) at least 5 working days before the date of the test. Students failing the test can re-sit the test in the following sessions, but must pass it not later than the 31st March of the academic year they wish to enrol for.
The assessment of individual preparation is done by means of an oral examination with 3 professor of the main disciplines. The examination and interview will attest whether the candidate has the necessary knowledge to tackle the second-year subjects and whether he/she has acquired an engineering approach to problem solving.
Students will be assessed on the following disciplines:
• ICAR/01 Hydraulics
- Force on plain surface
- Bernoulli’s Theorem and related applications
- Planning and testing of pipes under pressure
- Energy exchanges between flowing water and hydraulic machines (pumps and turbines)
- Streamflow: uniform motion, critical state, hydraulic jumps, perpetual motion profiles in cylindrical beds

• ICAR/02 Hydraulic and maritime constructions and hydrology
- Statistical elaboration of intense rain
- Inflow-outflow models
- Aqueducts and drainage systems

• ICAR/04 Roads, railways and airports
- Transition curves
- Materials for road paving

• ICAR/06 Topography and cartography
- Transition curves
- Materials for road paving
- Cartography: contents and tolerance in maps, deformation modules
- Planimetric networks: planning, coordinates calculation, measurement verification
- GPS systems: positioning and precision
- Levelling: precision measuring and tolerance verification
- Control of movements and deformations: planning, measuring methods and instruments, statistical tests

• ICAR/07 Geotechnics
- Soil classification
- Laboratory experiments: oedometer test, triaxial sheer test
- Stress-strain curve for soils: oedometric model, modulus of elasticity, fracture conditions
- Water in soils: state of rest, steady flows, unsteady flows (consolidation)
- Methods for determining hydraulic and mechanical parameters by laboratory and on-site tests
- Stress determination on retaining walls
- Bearing capacity of shallow foundations

• ICAR/08 Building science
- Determination of isostatic structures
- Tension and deformation in three-dimensional solids
- Saint-Venant’s beam model: normal stress, bending, eccentric loading
- Determination of hyperstatic (statistically indeterminate) structures through the Theorem of Virtual Work
- Buckling according to Euler’s beam theory

• ICAR/09 Building techniques
- Calculating displacement for an elastic beam
- Analysis of rigid frames with force and displacement methods
- Redrafting and testing of reinforced concrete elements subject to uniaxial normal stress, bending, compression and tension bending, torsion and shear stress
- Steel elements: calculating welds and bolts, buckling of simple and composed sticks
- Beams on elastic foundation (Winkler foundation model)

Validation of English Certificates
Certificates can be validated if:
- they are officially recognised at an international level and not only in the home country;
- they are released by official certifying institutions of a long tradition, high reliability and exam validity;
- the certifying institutions must offer examinations coherent with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and widely tested and validated all over Europe;
- certificates must have at least a B1 level for English Language 1 and a B2 level for English Language 2, as specified in the ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) table for general linguistic skills (Common European Framework of Reference).

The course accepts the following certificates of the ALTE list as a replacement of the English proficiency test for the Course (that is, students submitting such certificates are not required to sit the English Proficiency test – English Language 1/2 set by the Course):
• English Language 1
- PET (Preliminary English Test)
- TOEFL IbT (Test of English as Foreign Language Internet based test) – minimum score 47 points
- IELTS (International English Language Testing System) - minimum score 4 points
- ISE I (Integrated Skills in English)

• English Language 2
- FCE (First Certificate in English)
- CAE (Certificate in Advanced English)
- CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English)
- TOEFL IbT (Test of English as Foreign Language Internet based test) - minimum score 64 points
- IELTS (International English Language Testing System) - minimum score 5 points
- ISE II, ISE III, ISE IV (Integrated Skills in English)

Key learning outcomes

The course is addressed to graduates who already possess sufficient knowledge of Physics and Mathematics, and sound basic knowledge of civil engineering. Its aim is to train professionals that specialise in designing, constructing, maintaining and managing civil structures and infrastructures for the city and the surrounding area. Employment fields include freelancing, public authorities, engineering companies and production or service companies. The two-year course, along with its objectives, pursues two separate and complementary goals: consolidating the students’ knowledge and providing a sufficiently wide and in-depth vision of civil engineering sectors through solid general training, while focusing specialization on a specific field to be chosen by the student. The course enhances the connection between a technical-scientific background and managerial-economic aspects, while encouraging an engineering approach to problem-solving; in addition, it fosters the so-called cross-functional skills, especially including the ability to make independent choices but also to relate to others and collaborate in a working team. The Course is divided into 3 learning areas:
1. Area of advanced knowledge for civil engineering
2. Areas of specialisation
3. Area of autonomy and responsibility
The lessons given in the first area expand the student's background across the entire range of the main civil engineering subjects. Lessons given in the second area of learning are divided into alternative areas. These ones provide specialist knowledge and skills concerning the construction, structural, hydraulic and infrastructural sectors. The third area of learning promotes autonomous work and encourages decision-making and the ability to take responsibility.

Final examination, if any

The aim of the final examination is to assess the level of autonomy and mastery of specific methods and subjects achieved by the candidate, and his/her ability to summarise results, assess them from a critical standpoint and present them in written and oral form. Preparation work for the examination involves an in-depth analysis of a subject agreed upon with the supervisor regarding methodological, numerical, experimental and design-related aspects of one of the subjects of the course. The analysis must be summed up in a project (degree thesis) drafted in Italian or English. The subject of the examination is decided with a lecturer (supervisor) and is autonomously developed by the student. The supervisor must be chosen among the official professors of the Degree Course at the moment the work is assigned. The final thesis is evaluated by a specific commission made up of at least 7 full-time lecturers of the Degree Course and, if necessary, of other temporary lecturers from the Degree Course, and external supervisors.
The evaluation takes into account the presentation of the thesis to the Board, followed by a discussion. The commission evaluates the thesis, its exposition and discussion, the student’s whole academic study career, the real achievement of the learning objectives set by the course (emerging from the thesis and the curriculum) and, on this basis, assigns the final grade.